The Girl Next Door
by Phoenix31
Summary: It's been 5 years since Ed and Winry had seen each other. But when Ed finally gets around to visiting Winry, she notices that Ed has changed a bit. But, she's not the only one who's noticing changes....Chapter 3 up!
1. Chapter 1

She couldn't believe that he had broken his automail again. How many times had she fixed it? Winry now believed that she could efficiently fix and repair any breakage, malfunction, or automail-related problem that Ed would ever experience. In her sleep. Sighing, she returned to examining Ed's shoulder.

"Ed, what on earth did you do to this thing? It looks like it was shoved down a blender or something." Seeing the sheepish smile that had appeared on his face, she then added, "Never mind. I don't want to know," and went back to fixing his shoulder. Peeking out from under her lashes, Winry couldn't believe how much he had grown over the years. It had been about 5 years since she had last seen him and Al. They had promised to visit one another, but with her auto-mail business, and Ed's work as a state alchemist…time had just seemed to drift by. However, one thing had been made very clear to Winry from the moment Ed had stepped off that train from Central.

Little Ed had seemingly grown up.

He was still rather…petite…as a result of his failed alchemy all those years ago, but he had grown in other ways. His chest had broadened some, and his muscles had become more defined. His face had become a tad more angular, losing the baby fat that it once held to reveal high cheekbones and a sunny smile. His eyes, however, were still the same laughing gold they had always been. All in all, one indisputable fact had been circling around in Winry's head ever since he had greeted her at the train station.

Mr. Edward Elric was a total and complete hottie.

She had tried not to think of it. It was wrong on so many different levels. She was practically his sister, for crying out loud. She had grown up with him and Al, and had watched the two of them mature.

Hell, she remembered when his voice had first started cracking.

But something deep inside of her was slightly jealous of the way women seemed to flock to Ed. They giggled. They flirted.

They jiggled.

Winry's eyes narrowed as she tightened one of the screws in Ed's automail. How dare they come onto Ed like that? He wasn't the sort of person who would consider any of those hussies. He believed that there was more to a girl than bouncing breasts and a pretty face.

Right?

A snapping noise resounded throughout the room as Winry pondered this.

"Damn Win, something the matter?" Winry's eyes fell unto the broken screwdriver that she now held in her hand. Her eyes traveled up Ed's automail arm, to the screw she had been tightening, then to the floor, where the other half of the screwdriver now resided. Heat rose to her cheeks as she stammered out,

"No, no! Of course not Ed! Everything's fine, I was just daydreaming! Eheh, silly me!" Winry bent over to pick up the rest of the screwdriver. Straightening up, she nearly screamed as she saw Ed's face hovering a few inches away from her own.

"You sure? 'Cuz you're looking a bit flushed." Reaching out with his left hand, Ed felt her forehead. "You're a tad warm as well. You sure you aren't catching a cold? I think the flu is going around. I can have Al make up some tea for you." Winry sighed at his concern.

"I'm fine Ed. I've finished fixing your arm, so you can just go now." Ed peered into her eyes. He leaned close to her, his face stopping mere millimeters away from hers. Heat once again rose to her face.

"The hell you are. You haven't even yelled at me yet for breaking the automail. You haven't told me how irresponsible I am, how lucky I should consider myself to have such a knowledgeable friend." He tweaked her nose. "I think you're sick." With those words, Ed swooped Winry up into his arms and carried her towards her bedroom. He shouted out at Al to make up some tea, and deposited Winry with a flourish of his arms onto her modest twin bed.

"Damnit Ed, I'm not sick!" Winry tried to get up again, only to be shoved back down by Ed. Glaring at him; Winry crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. Ed simply crossed his arms in reply and took a seat in the armchair that was next to her bed.

"Then what the hell, might I ask, is wrong with you? Your face is red; you get mood swings all the time…" Ed's face took on a drastic change as an inkling of an idea seemed to probe at his brain. He raised his finger, pointed it at her, and asked in a shaky voice, "W…Winry…You aren't…you aren't pregnant, are you?"

For a moment, she just sat there, staring at Ed. Then, her jaw began to clench and unclench. Her eyes became slits as she addressed him.

"No, Ed. I am not pregnant." Winry's eyebrow began to twitch, and Ed began to fear for his manhood.

"Oh…good, because if you were, I would have had to beat the shit outta the bastard who–" Ed was cut off as Winry's fist plowed into his stomach.

"You jerk!" Winry stomped out of the room, passing a rather confused Al as she marched out the front door. Al sighed and looked at the cup of tea that he had made for her.

"Guess she didn't want any."

It had started to get dark out. Ed was still in Winry's armchair, pondering just hat he had done wrong. It wasn't like her to react so violently to something non-automail related. Ed's musings were broken as Al walked in through the doorway.

"Where's Winry? It's getting awfully dark out, and it isn't safe for her to be outside by herself." Ed mumbled under his breath. "What was that, brother? I couldn't hear you clearly."

"I said that all I did was ask her a question, and she just ran out of here! It's not like it's my fault or anything!"

"What was your question?" Mumble. Mumble. "What was that?"

"I said I asked her whether or not she was pregnant!"

Ed blinked as he rubbed his aching backside. After telling Al what he had asked Winry, Al had shoved him outside of the doorway and told him (rather angrily as well) to not bother coming back unless Winry was with him. It wasn't fair. Wasn't there some universal law that declared that younger brothers be shorter than older brothers?

Then again, since when had he Universe ever shown compassion towards Edward Elric?

Ed mused on this thought while he perused the streets of the town. Where on Earth had Winry gotten to? Ed didn't quite feel like looking through the streets for a girl who could take care of herself. It's not like it was crime central around there. Not to mention that it was dark and only thing that could make it worse was if it started to….

Rain. Yup, the universe proved that it truly hated Edward by sending down torrents of ice-cold water.

Sometimes, life could be one hell of a vengeful bitch.


	2. Chapter 2

Al was simply preparing some tea when Winry slammed through the front door. He nearly dropped the teapot when he saw the state she was in. Soaking wet, from head to toe, and a small puddle had formed at her feet. Dark shadows had appeared beneath her eyes, and it looked like she had been doing quite a bit of crying.

Al made a silent promise to himself to make Ed suffer. Greatly. But, more pressing matters were at the forefront of his mind. Grabbing a towel, Al draped it across Winry's shoulders.

"You must be cold. Come on Winry, you should take a nice hot bath and go to bed." Teeth chattering, Winry nodded and tromped up the steps. Watching her make her way towards the bathroom, Al sighed. It was so obvious that she liked Ed in a more-than-platonic way. Unfortunately, Ed would never figure that out in a million years.

Nope, Ed was far too caught up with trying not to like Winry back.

Al smiled as that thought crossed his mind. Ed had never been so smitten with a girl, and now that Al thought about it, Winry was the perfect match for Ed. She could match his temper with her own, she was kind, sensitive, smart, and he knew that she wasn't the type of girl who played games with guys.

Al wasn't stupid; he had seen the way Winry had changed over the years. She had filled out rather nicely (probably the reason why she had stopped wearing those black tube tops) and had become rather curvy. Golden hair was still tied back with a bandana, and she was still rather casual with her clothing. Al doubted if she even owned a dress.

A smirk made its way across Al's face. Central would be holding a masked ball for most of the government's alchemists. Technically, Ed and he weren't part of the government anymore, but Mustang had invited them anyway.

And had given them two extra tickets.

Smirking slightly, Al decided that what Ed and Winry needed the most right now was a swift kick in the pants. Otherwise, the two of them would be still be skirting around each other when they were in their seventies.

And besides, Al wanted little nieces and nephews damnit. Was that so much to ask for? With a cheerful bounce in his step, Al decided to go and talk to the one person who he knew would help him with his plotting.

Al whistled as he made his way to Pinoko's house.

Ed was tired. He had roamed the streets for six hours looking for Winry. Six torturously long hours, in the pouring rain, without an umbrella. Ed would have used alchemy to help him create a suitable shield against the freezing rain, but his brain circuits were pretty much fried by that point in time.

Lack of sleep can do that to a person.

So it was understandable when Ed crawled into bed for the night and passed out as soon as he had slipped between the sheets.

Unfortunately, Ed had walked into the room across the hallway from his own room. He had missed the lump that was already occupying the very cushy bed. Not to mention that a certain brother of the famed 'alchemist for the people' wasn't really in a mood to go in there and wake poor tired Ed up and make him go to his own bedroom.

Al practically cackled as he skipped towards his room.

Winry sighed in contentment as she nestled closer to the warm body next to her. She felt so safe; caught somewhere between the realm of dreams and reality. Opening her eyes, Winry lost all traces of drowsiness, and became aware of one thing.

She was staring at a rather well defined, rather naked, chest.

Closing her eyes, Winry counted backwards from ten. Opening them, she was faced with the same rather well-defined chest. Her eyes traveled up and rested on Ed's sleeping face.

He really did look like an angel when he was asleep. Of course, when he was awake, he looked more like a mischief making demon from hell, but with that air of contentment around him, he was an utter angel when he was asleep.

Or at least, that's what Winry had been thinking. Until she felt something moving around in her chest region. Shrieking, Winry reacted in a purely feminine instinct.

Ed's eyes flew open as he felt a sharp pain on his face. He had been rather happy asleep; he had been having some rather nice dreams.

You know, bunnies and stuff.

So it was safe to say that while he was shocked, Ed was also slightly peeved. I mean, it wasn't every day that he was slapped across the face. Much less slapped across the face when he had been sound asleep, having nice dreams about fluffy bunny rabbits. Ed looked around for the mysterious force that had caused him pain, and met Winry's furious blue gaze with his own.

It was a purely male instinct that made Ed cringe.

"Erm…hey?"

"Ed! Don't you have any control over that hand of yours? And just what do you think you're doing in my bed, anyways? I didn't invite you here. I don't make a habit of inviting perverted jackasses like yourself into my bed." Huffing slightly, Winry crossed her arms over her chest.

"Uhh..." Ed seemed to finally notice just where his hand had gotten, and a blush bloomed on his cheekbones as he snatched the offending limb away. Ed looked around at his surroundings, and realized that he wasn't in his bedroom. The blush intensified.

"Ed, I'm giving you 'til the count of ten…no make that five. And by the time I reach the number five, you better have a good explanation. One…Two…"

"I thought this was my room…." Winry gave him a skeptical look. "I did! I spent all night looking for you, in the pouring rain, might I add, and when I couldn't find you I came back here. And I think I might have," Ed sneezed, "caught a cold while doing it…." Winry's fury abated and concern took over.

"Oh Ed…you're so stupid. I'm not exactly defenseless, you know." Ed quirked an eyebrow at her. "I'm not! Now please get out of my room." Ed smirked.

"I think I like it right here. After all, it's nice and warm. And I am sick because of you, so…" Ed slapped a hand on the pillow he had been using. "…I'm just gunna stay here. But I would like some chicken soup, if you've got any."

"You…You…How dare you? This is my room, and I won't tolerate your smelly carcass laying in my bed!" Winry stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Get out!"

"Uhhh, I'm too sick to get out." Ed turned over, and within seconds, Winry heard snores emitting from his being.

"Ed! I know you aren't asleep! You don't snore that much! Now get up!" After shoving him (and failing to budge him an inch), Winry threw up her hands and went in search of someone who could be of some use to her.

"Al! Where are you? Alphonse Elric, get your tin ass out here!" Al dropped the skillet he had been holding when he heard Winry's angry voice.

He was in so much trouble. Al looked at where Pinako had been sitting just a moment ago, and wondered where the old woman had gotten to. She sure moved quickly, for an old bitty.

"Al!" If he were capable of it, Al would have cringed. Winry…she didn't look happy. Not at all. Al hoped his voice didn't shake as he responded.

"Good morning Winry! Would you like some eggs?" Two orbs of ice glared at him. "Uh…How is brother doing, Winry?" The ice melted, and fire replaced it. Al silently wondered if he could outrun his childhood friend.

"Al. I'm only going to say this once, so listen up! Ed is in my room and won't get out! Unless you want to become scrap metal, you will remove him!" Al gulped as he looked at the furious woman. The way he saw it, he had two choices. He could remove Ed, and assure his future. Or, he leave Ed, and risk the wrath of a woman scorned. Al mumbled something under his breath.

"Idntkioat…" Winry glared at Al and picked up her wrench.

"What did you just say, Alphonse?" Alphonse audibly gulped as he looked at Winry.

"I said…uhhh…I don't think I can do that. See, Ed seemed sick last night, and uh…well, he might still be sick!" Winry glared at Al.

"He seemed sick last night? You let him crawl into my room?"

Al wondered whether or not he really wanted his body back. At least, in this one, he didn't really feel pain….


	3. Chapter 3

Alphonse Elric was having a bad day.

A very bad day.

It started with Winry's harassing him into moving Ed. After several creative threats, the young girl had finally managed to get Al to acquiesce to her demands.

Pushy, Winry was. Very, very pushy. After he had managed to move the lump that was his brother into the appropriate room, Al sat down at the kitchen table contemplating whether or not his life was worth the plan that he and Pinako had cooked up. He loved his brother, he really did.

He had better be getting some nieces and nephews out of this, damnit.

* * *

Still glowering, Winry sat down at her kitchen table with a cup of coffee and an egg sandwich. There was just no way that she could excuse Ed's behavior, and Al was only making it worse. What had happened to the two brothers in the last five years to make them so annoying? Well, Ed had always been an annoying little (and Winry did mean little) brat, but she expected better behavior from Al.

She lowered her head and stared at the wooden grain of the table. She had missed the two of them so damn much. During the first year, they had corresponded with letters every other day. She'd get 4 or 5 letters a week, regaling her of their adventures. Every once in a while, she'd get a telephone call, if she was lucky.

Then, her luck ran out. The letters and phone calls became less and less frequent, and eventually stopped altogether. During that first year of non-communication, Winry had figured that the boys were just busy, or had an extraordinarily long and important mission. The second year, she began to doubt herself, but wrote it off as her imagination. The work they did was very important, and often life-threatening. The third year, she had gotten up the courage to call Central and find out where her boys were.

Mustang had informed her that they were away, at the store. She had asked him if they were on an important mission, and he'd laughed. Said that they hadn't had an important mission in over a year; they had been free to return at any time. Numb, Winry uttered something appropriate to him and had hung up the phone.

She cried herself to sleep that night.

Even now, Winry couldn't quite figure out why she had never persisted with her calling. Surely, if she called often enough, one of those two lunkheads would have answered the phone, and she could have yelled at them. Except…Winry didn't want to have to call them. She wanted them to call her; had wanted them to admit that they liked talking to her. That even though they had been through hell; she was still their friend.

The person they trusted most.

Winry put her head down onto her hands and wept tears of bitterness.

* * *

Ed was whistling when he stepped out of the shower. He had gotten his day off right. First, he woke to the unexpected slap from Winry. That hadn't been so pleasant. But, he had enjoyed heckling her; had enjoyed the bright spark of anger that had burned fiercely in her eyes. Al had come in, tuttering like the mother hen that he was, and had shooed Ed out – but Ed had still been laughing about Winry's response to his proposition. Still grinning, Ed washed up and got dressed. He was just finishing putting on his signature red jacket when Al stormed into the room.

Five seconds later, Al had Ed up against the wall with his hand at Ed's throat.

"Brother! What did you do to her?" Ed could only gasp as he frantically tried to force air into his lungs. After he had turned purple, Al let go and let Ed slump to the floor.

"Jesus Christ Al, what's wrong with you? I ought to transfigure you into a tin can. Guy could kill a bro-"

"Explanation as to why Winry's downstairs crying, Ed! Now!" Ed goggled at his brother for a moment, as the words sank in. Five point three seconds later, Ed had run out of the room and was gone from sight.

He may have been small, but he was fast.

Staring at the crying girl in the kitchen, Ed began to panic. He had never been much good with females in general, and crying females – they were a whole different ballgame. Glancing around, Ed's gaze landed on something out the window. With a quirky smile, Ed was gone in a flash of red and blond.

Winry had just about gotten herself under control when Ed walked in, holding something behind his back. One glance at him had her eyes beginning to water again, and she began to reach for the wrench that she always kept in her back pocket.

"Whoa, hey there, lay off the violence for a minute, Win." With a boyish smile, Ed thrust what was behind his back into her face.

Staring at the bright yellow daffodils that her face had been assaulted with, Winry couldn't help but smile. She looked at Ed, and then back to the flowers. Smiling slightly, she took the flowers and put them into a vase; filled the vase with water.

"You do know that Al planted these yesterday, right?" She turned around, only to see Ed's eyes comically widened. Winry chuckled to herself as she turned back to the counter and idly arranged the flowers. "Thank you, Ed; this was just what I needed." After arranging the flowers to her liking, Winry gently grasped the vase and turned around to place them on the table.

Unfortunately, she hadn't sensed Ed right behind her.

Winry stared at the water that began soaking through his shirt. Running her eyes up his (well muscled) torso, Winry locked her eyes with him, and was shocked to see the serious glint that had begun to edge its way into his gaze. She would have dropped the vase, but it had somehow wound up in his grasp before she had even realized it, and he gently set it on the counter behind her.

"Win, what's wrong?" Three words. Three words had undone Winry, and she hated that he had that type of power over her. She felt the words flow forth from her lips before she even realized what she was saying.

"You didn't write me! You didn't write me, damnit! You didn't call, you didn't write, you couldn't have given a shit as to whether or not I was even alive all this time!"

Ed watched her as her chest puffed in and out with every breath she took, watched as his childhood friend became unglued right before his eyes. Watched as the girl that he had shown his first clumsy attempts of transfiguration to weep bitterly and fiercely. There was nothing he could say to show her how sorry he was; there were no words for the emotion that swamped through him.

Winry had wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to try to keep still, to try to hide how upset she really was. She squeezed her eyes shut so that she wouldn't have to see Ed's reaction to her sobs. She didn't want his pity, or his sorrow. She had just wanted him back, wanted the easy friendship that they had once had. But she had mucked it all up by falling apart in front of him – she let him know how much he had hurt her. And now nothing would ever be the same.

She felt his arms wrap around her, and they both sank to the ground. And that was how Al found them two hours later, still holding each other, sleeping in the middle of the kitchen floor.

* * *

Ed woke first. Disoriented, he wondered why his bed was so hard, and why it was so bright in his room. It all came flooding back to him as his gaze landed on Winry's golden hair.

He had hurt her. And for that, he would never forgive himself. Moreover, Ed knew that there was nothing he could do to fix what he had done. He had never wanted to hurt her, not really. He had been thinking of her safety, actually. He and Al had been on quite a few dangerous missions, and had a few of the bad guys after them. So, they had both agreed to cease contact with Winry, in an effort to protect her from being used as leverage against them.

How stupid they had been. Ed had figured that it might hurt Winry's feelings a little bit, but that she would get over it. And once he and Al had wiped out the last of their enemies, and then they could come back to her. And it would be one big fucking happy family again. He wished he could fix this problem he had stuck himself in. Wished that he could regain the years lost between the two of them. Rolling onto his back, Ed contemplated the ceiling.

"Brother, there is a carnival coming to town. Perhaps you and Winry would like to visit it?" Jumping up off the floor, Ed stared at his brother's metal form lurking in the doorway. He sure moved quietly for a man made of tin.

"Al! What the fuck! If you weren't my brother I'd…" His rant drifted off as he felt a wrench collide with the back of his head.

Winry was awake.

* * *

Grabbing his jacket, Ed yelled up at Winry to hurry the hell up. Turning back to his brother, Ed inquired of him for the umpteenth time,

"Al, why the hell don't you go with us? Come on, you can enjoy the rides, at least." Sighing, Al thought of what Pinako had said to him.

_"Al, what those two need is a little time alone. Send them off to the carnival, but don't you dare go with them! Or else I won't rest until I've turned you into a glorified watering can!"_ Shivering, Al shook his head at Ed.

"No brother, I want to go into town today and go shopping. Besides, I tend to attract a lot of attention, and I won't fit on the rides anyways. No, I'll go to the market and buy some items that Pinako has asked me to get for her, and I'll start on dinner. But you and Winry have fun!" Al practically growled the words out – he had wanted to go to the carnival, but Pinako had nearly bitten his head off when he had mentioned that he was going to go. Apparently, it would be more conducive towards their efforts if Winry and Ed were alone on this trip.

Al felt the slight pang of bitterness sweep through him as he thought about all the things he would be missing out of. The sights, the sounds, the balloons. Seeing the kids dart back and forth and frustrated parents attempt to catch them. Al might not have been able to physically go on the rides, but he could enjoy the happiness of others. Besides that, he kind of wanted to see if Ed would scream like a little girl on the roller coaster rides. Oh well.

All's fair in love in war.

* * *

AN: Hey guys. Sorry it's been a few years since I've updated, but a lot of things have been happening. I can't promise regular updates on any of my stories, since I still have a lot going on. But, I'll do what I can when I can. A big reason why I've been gone is so I can improve my writing. I've also been focusing more on non-fiction and original fiction. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things!


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